Friday 31 January 2014

Do you remember..

When these were popular?
Ceramic flying ducks
When I was a little girl in the 70's they were definitely 'in' and I loved them.. though I don't think anyone in my family ever had any.  I remember they had a lovely set in our local chip shop :)  and I used to admire them while we waited in the queue for our 10p bags of chips (you struggle to buy a bag of crisps for that these days).

Well a couple of weeks ago I suddenly remembered the flying ducks.. their lovely colours and how they made me feel happy just by looking at them  when I was little (or was that anticipation of the chips..? :).  I decided to have a go at making a set in felt.. You know how much I enjoy making critters..

1st step.. make a duck shaped resist
Enclosed in 2 layers of white merino fibre.  The 2nd wing resist
was carefully positioned, enclosed in merino, then covered with thin plastic to
prevent it felting into the other wing
Then the colours went on..
To decorate the 'insides' of the wings I placed a piece of plastic over the body
then carefully folded the wing back on to the plastic..so opening them up.
Once wetted, I put plastic back over the back wing and carefully put the front
wing back in place.
And finished decorating this side

Then I felted it..  Part way through I removed the plastic between the wings and allowed them to start to fuse together.. it was mostly the fluffy feathery bits sticking out past one wing that felted into the other wing.. it's enough to support the front wing and stop it drooping but it looks like 2 separate wings.  I removed the resists and finished felting.

Looks good so far.. couldn't wait for it to dry so I could stuff it :)
Stuffed with wool fibre and with a beady glass eye
I added a ring to the back for hanging.. the patch covers where I stitched him up
And then he needed some friends..
Flying..

:)
xoxo

15 comments:

Heather Woollove said...

So cute, Deborah!! I love their teal heads and wonderfully anatomical wings!! Amazing!! XO

Kerry O'Gorman said...

FANTASTIC! takes felting to a whole new level....I like that it has the dimension to it like a needle felted piece. Good one!

Ellie Foster said...

Wow! These are fantastic! I bet loads of people would love them (me, for a start!) Many congratulations - they look just like the original versions.
Best wishes
Ellie

Zdolność-tworzenia said...

Cudne! Szkoda, że nie prawdziwe.

Jacqui Galloway said...

I do remember them but never had any. Yours are much better. So graceful in flight. Jacqui x

FeltersJourney said...

:) Thank you all for your lovely comments :) I'm smiling from ear to ear at the moment

Ellie, they're actually in my Etsy shop at the moment so I'll soon know if folks want them lol

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend
xoxo

Unknown said...

Pomysł super, a wykonanie rewelacyjne. Ogladając twój blog zawsze się czegoś można nauczyć. Dziękuję i pozdrawiam.

Lyn said...

Fabulous! Yes, they were part of my youth as well. Wonderful idea to cover the stuffing hole with a lovely label and hanging ring. I much prefer your felted beauties to the ceramic ones.

Ruth Lane said...

The ducks are great - they look so happy flying away :)

Wendy said...

wow, they are fabulous! they always remind me of Coronation Street!

Kelly said...

These are wonderful! Such a truly artistic eye, you completely captured all of the details wonderfully!

Terriea Kwong said...

So cute 3D making. Thanks for the sharing. Wonderful!

FeltersJourney said...

Thank you ladies for your truly lovely comments :) xxx

Abigail Thomas said...

Amazing - really good work!Thanks for the photos; always love a good in progress shot.

FeltersJourney said...

Thanks Abigail :)
x